In their ongoing effort to rebuild the bullpen the Rays “have expressed interest in” Manny Delcarmen, according to Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times.

Delcarmen was traded from the Red Sox to the Rockies in August and then non-tendered last month after posting a 4.99 ERA and 38/32 K/BB ratio in 52 innings between the two teams.

He was a standout setup man for Boston in 2007 and 2008, posting a 2.81 ERA with 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings during that time, but in the two seasons since then he has a 4.74 ERA and 6.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Despite his recent struggles Delcarmen still averaged 93 miles per hour with his fastball last season, so it makes sense that the Rays would try turning the 28-year-old right-hander around in a middle relief role.

Manny Delcarmen threw just eight innings for the Rockies after they acquired him from the Red Sox on August 31 and now Troy Renck of the Denver Postreports that they plan to non-tender the arbitration-eligible reliever, making him a free agent.

Delcarmen didn’t pitch well during that brief stint in Colorado, but obviously eight innings is hardly a sample size worth focusing on and the Rockies did give up a decent pitching prospect to get him in 2009 sixth-round pick Chris Balcom-Miller.

Renck reports that the Rockies tried to work out a deal with Delcarmen that would have kept him in Colorado at a lower salary than what he’d likely get via arbitration, but had “no luck” doing so. Instead they traded last year’s sixth-round pick for eight innings of poor relief and Delcarmen will likely try to resurrect his career elsewhere on a one-year contract.